Return to Me
by Hikaru the Jinx
Summary: After the events of "Volpina" Marinette hopes things will go back to normal. She couldn't be more wrong. Now Hawkmoth has a new plan to sieze their miraculous, and he's not alone. Secrets come to light and things change. Will Ladybug and Chat Noir prevail?
1. Chapter 1

Marinette awoke from a night of fitful sleep and rubbed her drooping eyes. She took a moment to recall what day it was and cringed. It was a school day; the day after the….Volpina incident.  
The false heroine Volpina might be out of her life now, but Lila wasn't and Marinette wasn't looking forward to seeing her at school. Sure, Lila had no idea that she was Ladybug, but it hardly seemed likely that they would get along just because neither of them was wearing a mask.  
Adrian would be there too. Normally this would have excited her and been motivation enough to get up and ready to go. But today all she could think of was what a fool she had made of herself in front of him. The entire situation had been worse than it might have been if she had only contained her jealousy.  
Mari groaned loudly and reluctantly got out of bed. She got dressed as her mind once again replay  
"It'll be ok Marinette! Everyone makes mistakes." Tikki flew up to look her in the eye.  
"Thanks Tikki." She mustered a small smile

As it turned out, Lila didn't show up for school that day. Mari was vaguely worried by this, but dismissed it. She was probably still embarrassed, having been caught in multiple lies. Adrian, being ignorant of Marinette's alter ego, behaved normally around her. Well, almost normally. He seemed to be slightly preoccupied with something throughout the day. All in all though things seemed back to normal.  
Neither Marinette or Adrian could know how very wrong that was.  
Hidden away in his lair, somewhere in Paris, Hawkmoth was planning his next move. "Soon, very soon, Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous will be mine! Now more than ever I find myself close to that goal." He clenched his fist and smiled triumphantly.  
"What makes you so sure?" a voice questioned from behind him. He turned to face them.  
"Because I know who Chat Noir is. And given time, he will lead me straight to Ladybug." His eyebrows lowered and he smirked at the figure before him.  
She cocked her head to the side questioningly. "How could you possibly know who Chat Noir is?" Hawkmoth's expression soured and he glared at her. "…Master." She meekly added.  
"Because, after one of my previous attempt to seize the miraculous went unprecedentedly wrong, I had the opportunity to get a look at Chat Noir's ring. The ring is his miraculous, as I already knew from my research."  
"But how does that-" The girl was suddenly unable to breathe.  
"Don't. Interrupt me." Hawkmoth's voice held a dangerous edge. He unclenched his fist and air returned to his subordinate's lungs. "As I was saying…When I returned home, my first thought was to make sure my son was safe. When I went to see him I discovered that he has been wearing a ring I've never seen before. A ring seemingly identical to Chat Noir's. After that the pieces all seemed to fall into place. My son, Adrian is Chat Noir." He turned away from the girl and moved to face the window. "That means that if I keep an eye on my son, I can learn everything I need to know."  
He motioned with his cane for the girl to join him by the window. "Your help will be needed soon my White Lady. But when the time comes I want my son unharmed. Do you understand?"  
Emotionless blue eyes looked back at him. "Yes Hawkmoth."


	2. Chapter 2

After school that day Marinette was eager to get home. She had been assigned a great deal of homework that she wanted to get a head start on. She was almost home when it began to rain. The shower soon became a downpour and she wished ever so much that she had brought an umbrella.  
The rain plastered her hair to her face and made it difficult to see. Realizing that continuing on her way would not only be futile, but also dangerous, she took shelter under a nearby awning.  
After a few moments of shivering under the convenient covering, Marinette heard the dulled sound of clicking heels coming closer. Turning her head she saw a black umbrella with a familiar figure underneath it headed her way.  
The clicking stopped. "Well look who it is." Chloe's mocking voice met Mari's ears and the edge of the umbrella lifted to reveal an equally mocking expression. "Marinette Dupain Cheng, stuck in the rain."

Marinette frowned. "You're out in the rain too Chloe." She pointed a finger at her.  
"Yes, but _I'm_ not stuck. I have an umbrella, so I can leave whenever I want." She smiled smugly.  
Mari sighed. "Look Chloe, you've made your point. You were smart enough to bring an umbrella, and I wasn't. But I really need to get home. Do you think that maybe, just this once, we could put our differences aside and share an umbrella?"  
Chloe scoffed. "As if! I would never allow myself to be seen walking around with someone who looks like a drowned rat! And I would never help _you_. Stay out here all day for all I care!" and with that, she turned sharply and began to walk away.  
" Well, it was worth a try." Mari watched Chloe's retreating figure as the wind began to pick up. It swept past Marinette, causing her to shiver all the more. Then it hit Chloe full force causing her to nearly stumble as she struggled to maintain her grip on the umbrella handle.  
She screamed as the covering was violently ripped from her hands. It flew erratically through the air and eventually disappeared over a rooftop. The dubfounded blond stood anchored in place, shocked, as the rain pelted her now exposed self.  
Marinette was trying her hardest not to laugh.  
Chloe suddenly snapped out of it, realizing she was getting drenched. "My hair!" she screeched, running back towards the awning.  
Marinette tried, and failed, to suppress a smirk as she looked at the distraught blonde beside her. "Who looks like a drowned rat now Chloe?" She teased.  
The other girl sent her a nasty look. "Oh, shut up!"  
A few moments passed in relative silence. The only sounds heard were caused by the rain. Chloe continued to send Marinette occasional dirty looks, which were completely ignored.  
The dark haired girl was more preoccupied with thoughts on how to get home with things the way they were. It occured to her that she could try holding her jacket over her head and making a run for it. That seemed like a better idea than spending the rest of the day trapped with Chloe.  
She glanced at the girl as she thought of her. If she went through with this plan she would be ditching Chloe in the rain, much like what she had intended to do to her. But was that really the right thing to do?  
It was a moral delimma. Make a run for it and give Chloe a taste of her own medicine, or...or what? Help her somehow? Could they both even fit under her jacket?  
The blonde in question had noticed Marinette staring at her and frowned. "What? Is somthing on my face?" She snipped.  
"Uh...no. But I think I have an idea." Mari replied, snapping out of her state of thought.  
"An idea? What do you mean?"  
"I mean a way to get out of here. If we don't do somthing we could be stuck here for the rest of the day."  
Chloe looked repulsed by this thought. "Fine. What's your stupid idea?"  
Marinette frowned. "We can cover our heads with this" she slid off her jacket and held it for the other girl to see. "And make a run for it."  
Chole grimaced and gave the jacket a look of disgust. Mari assumed it had somthing to do with the inexpensive fabric the jacket was made of.  
In the end, both girls managed to huddle under the jacket. It covered far less than Marinette had hoped, but she wasn't bailing out now.  
On the count of three they took off running. Chloe squealed and shrieked, getting more wet than she had expected.  
They had almost made it to her house when Chloe had an unexpected meeting with the pavement. Running in heels is ill advised under normal circumstances. But in the rain? That's just asking for trouble. And trouble was just what she got.  
Marinette stopped when she heard the other girl scream, and looked to see her on the ground.  
"Oh! My ankle! It must be BROKEN! This is all your fault marinette!"  
Mari sighed in exasperation. "How?" She moved to give Chole a hand.  
"This was your idiotic idea!"  
"I'm not the one that wore heels on a rainy day."  
"Oh, so your saying this is my fault?!"  
"I'm saying it's no one's fault!" She pulled the blonde to her feet.  
"Let's just keep going." Marinette continued. "We're almost to your house."  
Chloe grumbled in resentment. She attempted to keep running, but the first step she took brought her to another swift stop.  
"Ooh, my ankle! It really hurts! I TOLD you it must be broken!" Teary ice blue eyes glared daggers at Mari.  
"Shoot. We were so close." She scrunched up her mouth, thinking as hard as she could. They could't turn back. Going forward would be equally hard. But at least it would get them somewere. Another minute of pondering and Marinette knew what she had to do.  
Chole remained on the ground through all this, still clutching her ankle and sniffling. She was startled when Marinette's jacket plopped down on top of her head.  
She was far more suprised however, when she found herself suddenly lifted off the ground by a girl she had always assumed was weak. Marinette Dupain Cheng had lifted her off the ground and now held her bridal style. Chloe was to stunned to speak.  
Mari immediately began running once more. Chloe was much heavier than she let on, and the sooner she could put her down again the better.

"See you tomorrow Chloe!" Marinette waved goodbye to the stunned blonde who was currently being carried inside the hotel by her butler. The fact that Marinette had put so much effort into helping her, and been so kind...incomprehensible.


End file.
